Glossary of Terms
Engineering and R & D Terms
ABC
Alberta Building Code
ACI
American Concrete Institute
ACPA
American Concrete Pumping Association
ACS
Automatic Climbing System (for formwork)
Admixture
A material other than water, aggregates, lime, or cement, used as an ingredient of concrete or mortar, and added to the batch immediately before or during its mixing; used as a water repellent, as a colouring agent, as a retarder or accelerator (to modify its setting rate), etc.
AEGGA
Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists, and Geophysicists of Alberta
AFC
Alberta Fire Code
Aggregate
An inert granular material such as natural sand, manufactured sand, gravel, crushed gravel, crushed stone, vermiculite, perlite, and air-cooled blast-furnace slag, which when bound together into a conglomerate mass by a matrix forms concrete or mortar.
AISC
American Institute of Steel Construction Inc.
ASTM
American Society for Testing and Materials
Cement
A material or a mixture of materials (without aggregate) which, when in a plastic state, possesses adhesive and cohesive properties and hardens in place. Frequently, the term is used incorrectly for concrete, e.g., a “cement” block for concrete block.
CFCAO
Concrete Floor Contractors Association of Ontario
Concrete
A composite material which consists essentially of a binding medium within which are embedded particles or fragments of aggregate, in Portland cement concrete, the binder is a mixture of Portland cement and water.
CSA
Canadian Standards Association
Falsework
Support for formwork in a horizontal position
FF
Floor Flatness
FL
Floor Levelness
Flyash
The finely divided residue resulting from the combustion of ground or powdered coal, transported from the firebox through the boiler by flue gases.
Formwork
Equipment (beams, panels, forms, wood, etc) used to form concrete surfaces either horizontal or vertical.
Gang Panels
Group of modular forms used in wall forms
Handset System
Falsework frames for forming horizontal slabs
Hinge Platform
Support platform for supporting elevator core forms
Jump Bracket
External ‘A’ frame support/work platform bracket used in wall forms
NRMCA
National Ready Mixed Concrete Association
OBC
Ontario Building Code
OFC
Ontario Fire Code
OGCA
Ontario General Contractors Association
OPS
Ontario Provincial Standards for Roads and Public Works
OSPE
Ontario Society of Professional Engineers
PCA
Portland Cement Association
PEO
Professional Engineers of Ontario
PPS
Perimeter Protection System
RMCAO
Ready Mixed Concrete Association of Ontario
SCC
Self-Consolidating Concrete
Stair Hinge Platform
Support platform for supporting stair core forms
ULC
Underwriters’ Laboratories of Canada
QA/QC Terms
Corrective Actions
Steps taken to remove the causes of an existing nonconformity or to make quality improvements. Corrective actions address actual problems. In general, the corrective action process can be thought of as a problem solving process.
Field Sample Installations
Section of the work, which will establish the quality benchmark for the duration of the job, to be provided for approval by stakeholders and that will become part of the final work.
Inspection Checklist
Used to verify installations once they are complete, an Inspection Checklist verifies which items of the installation are in conformance with the requirements, and which items are not. Used on a module basis, it will help to reveal non-conformances in the early stages. The form is signed by the Subcontractor to verify the quality of their work, and then approved and signed by the EllisDon Superintendent, noting any deficiencies.
Mock-Up
Representations of work, which will establish the quality benchmark for the duration of the job, to be provided for approval by stakeholders, which may or may not become part of the final work.
Moisture Vapour Emissions
Moisture vapour diffusing through concrete via 2 sources (free water within the concrete mix, and sub-slab moisture vapour)
Non-Conformance
A condition of any product or component in which one or more characteristics do not satisfy the given requirements. These include failures, defects and malfunctions (e.g. wrong material used, inadequate design, system that does not perform as specified, etc.)
Non-Conformance Report (NCR)
Created for non-conformances, this report will describe what went wrong, what the root cause was, and what preventative actions will be taken. It will involve all the stakeholders and people doing the work. It is an integrated system that promotes improvement of the processes, not only within a specific project, but also for the entire company.
Preventative Actions
Steps taken to avoid the causes of potential non-conformances or to make quality improvements. Preventative actions address potential problems – ones that have not yet occurred. In general, the preventive action process can be thought of as a risk analysis process.
Quality Assurance
Activities, actions and procedures performed before and during execution of the work to guard against defects and deficiencies and ensure that construction complies with requirements.
Quality Control
Tests, inspections, procedures and related actions during and after execution of the work to measure and evaluate whether completed construction complies with requirements.
EllisDon Construction Consulting
How to Get Started
For more information on EllisDon's Engineering, Research and Development and Quality Assurance Services, please contact Steve Seifert, Senior Vice President, Engineering/Research and Development.
Case Study
Moisture Vapour Emission (PDF, 199KB)Successful Projects include:
Bay Adelaide Centre
Rogers Centre
Eighth Avenue Place
AGO - Transformation
George Brown College Waterfront Health Sciences Campus
South Health Campus
First Canadian Place
CORE Shopping Centre
Industry Memberships
- Professional Engineers of Ontario (PEO)
- Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE)
- Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists, and Geophysicists of Alberta (APEGGA)
- American Concrete Institute (ACI)
- American Institute of Steel Construction Inc (AISC)
- Canadian Standards Association (CSA)
- Ontario Building Envelope Council (OBEC)
© EllisDon Corporation 2010
